2005-11-13
Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church
38
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth:
39
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away
thy coat, let him have [thy] cloke also.
41
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with
him twain.
42
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would
borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Why
would Jesus tell us not to resist evil?
Aren’t we supposed to take a stand against it?
In
each example He gives here, notice that the evil comes to you, and comes against
you. There’s no indication that
you provoked it in any way. It
comes to you, and smites you on the cheek; it sues you at
the law; it takes away your coat; it compels you to carry its
burden for a mile, and it asks you to give or lend to it.
This is important for us to understand, because if I provoke someone into
smacking me, there’s no glory in turning the other cheek (1 Peter 2:19-25).
What’s thankworthy; what God accepts, and gives grace for, is the
patience you show during the times when you’re suffering for doing the right
thing.
Jesus
is saying that when you get smacked, you don’t smack back every time.
We’re supposed to imitate Him, and give the smacker one more
chance. Most people would’ve
smacked right back, but you didn’t. It’s grace that gives the smacker a chance to see
for himself that what he did was wrong. By
God’s grace, the smacker will understand and repent, but if he hits you
again, you know the smacker has no conscience.
Jesus doesn’t say here that you have to let someone keep hitting you.
So,
where do we find that patience and self-control to turn the other cheek? Well, a
lot of it can be found in my old favorite, Psalm 37.
Whenever it seems the evildoers are getting away with harming you,
whenever you feel like the whole world is against you, and you just can’t win,
go to a quiet place and meditate on that entire Psalm of David; good-old, trusty
Psalm 37.
Psalm
37:7-13
Rest
in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who
prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do
evil. For evildoers shall be cut off (This is a
promise – settle it in your heart. They
will not be allowed to continue forever.): but those that wait
upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth (This is a promise,
and God doesn’t lie.). For yet a little while, and the wicked shall
not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall
not be. (God promises us that the wicked have a little time now,
but that’s all they’ve got.) But
the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance
of peace. (This is a promise – settle it in your heart.
With what you know about eternity, you don’t have to worry about wicked people
who never seem to get caught. With
what you know about eternity, you can even smile at the evil, and let the Spirit
speak through you.)
The
wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is
coming.
While we’re still alive in these bodies, our purpose, our entire reason for being is to please Him, and He says in His Word that He has plans for the evil. While we’re here, our job is to help the Lord fulfill His will, but when we take matters into our own hands, we get in His way. Think of Peter, how He rebuked the Lord Jesus for going to the cross (Mark 8:33). Peter wanted to take a stand against the evil set before Jesus. If Peter had his way, he would’ve hidden Jesus away, and fought to his death protecting his Lord. What did Jesus say to him? “Get thee behind me Satan”. We might think Peter’s intentions were noble, but Jesus tells us they were evil. Logically, Peter thought that by resisting the evil coming against Jesus, he was indeed fighting for the Lord, but contrary to logic, Jesus called him Satan (adversary). Where would Peter be; where would we be, if Peter had succeeded in protecting Jesus from the cross?
Ephesians
4:26-27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your
wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
It’s
OK to be angry, but whenever we lash out in anger, it gives the devil a foothold
in our lives, and he will exploit it.
Jesus
said, “In your patience possess ye your souls” (Luke
21:19). Be like Peter in your zeal
for the Lord, but be like David in your patience and faith in the Lord’s
vengeance against evildoers. Let’s
do honor to the memory of the only One who was able to combine these things; our
Lord Jesus.
Dear Jesus, in You, and You alone, can we find an “abundance of peace”. In the world, we find an abundance of wickedness. We have nowhere else to go, so we come to You, Lord.